Sun Spots with Hitch [Vol. 77]: Feeling the pain at the back of the line

While a Boston Globe report earlier this month indicated opioid prescriptions in the state are in sharp decline and significantly lower than the national average, abuse of pain-killing drugs like oxycodone, methadone and fentanyl, not to mention their street cousin heroin, remains a scourge and a priority item for local and state lawmakers.

The Bay State’s new opioid laws, indeed, could serve as a national model. With so much attention focused there, Hitch wonders if other addicts seeking help may be left out in the cold.

David Hitch was born in Omaha, Nebraska, where he began his journey into cartoon journalism at the University of Nebraska Omaha student publication, The Gateway, winning two national awards for collegiate editorial cartooning. In 1987, while cartooning for The Papillion (Nebraska) Times, he won The National Newspaper Association's "Best Original Cartoon" award. The following year he accepted a position with the Telegram & Gazette, where he penned more than 6,000 cartoons covering nearly 27 years. His work has been nationally distributed by King Features Syndicate since 1990. David lives in Holden with his wife, Cindy, where they have raised four children, two hamsters and a rabbit. His interests and hobbies include cooking, landscaping, sports and music (especially 70's classic rock trivia).

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